Margaret Marty Mann (October 15, 1904 – July 22, 1980) was an American writer who is considered by some to be the first woman to achieve longterm sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous.
[1] There were several remarkable women in the early days of AA including but not limited to: Florence R. of New York, Sylvia K. of Chicago, Ethel M. of Akron, Ohio.
[1] In 1976, the NCA organized Operation Understanding where 50 celebrities and professionals gathered to address the social stigma surrounding alcoholism.
Mann's father, once a top executive at the most prestigious department store in downtown Chicago, died of alcoholism.
[4] British photographer and society figure, considered one of the group designated by the tabloid press as "Bright Young People".
In 1939, her psychiatrist Dr. Harry Tiebout gave her a pre-publication manuscript of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, and persuaded her to attend her first AA meeting.
[1] In 1945, Mann became inspired with the desire to eliminate the stigma and ignorance regarding alcoholism and to encourage the "disease model" which viewed it as a medical/psychological problem, not a moral failing.
Three ideas formed the basis of her message: Marty Mann and R. Brinkley Smithers funded Dr. E. Morton (Bunky) Jellinek's initial 1946 study on Alcoholism.
[11][12] Many histories of Alcoholics Anonymous make only passing mention of Mann, perhaps because NCEA had no formal relationship to AA.